Sketchbook: Fancy Makeover

Vintage Christmas

Thinking ahead to the holiday season and working on some vintage inspired Christmas designs. I'm trying to be serious, preparing enough in advance to have some Etsy offferings ready in time for holiday shoppers. But what I'm most excited about is this bit of goofiness- old timey boy and girl with weird, incongruous rat dog. Anyone interested in having them on your holiday card? I didn't think so but, as they say, it never hurts to ask!

Back from the woods

There is nothing like the Pennsylvania forest in all its mossy, lichen- covered glory. 

I'm so lucky that I get to spend time there each summer.

This exquisite nest made of moss belongs to a Phoebe flycatcher. I felt so guilty for invading her space to take this photo that it isn't even in focus. What a shame she had a very grumpy face and a beautiful nest.

I renewed my interest in a children's book concept I dreamed up while on my woodland holiday last year.  I know a year is a long time.  But a lot has happened since last summer... 

Follow me on instagram for more woodsy photos.

Tea Time doodle

I didn't have time for the last Lilla Rogers MATS Bootcamp theme "beverages" this month. I had some time to doodle yesterday and came up with this flowery tea time doodle just for fun. I love tea and prefer it dark and strong. PG Tips is my current favorite. How about you?

Midsummer Night's Dream

Hi there! I have a few new drawings made in response to the theme "A Midsummer Night's Dream." These three plus one additional are featured in the new publication CROP which you can view online at Issu here. Crop is a showcase of works from Cultivate Art Collective members.

Oh Happy Day: My human baby meets my art baby

Oh Happy Day: Taking my human baby to my see art baby at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum!

I was super excited to take my new little family to see the museum debut of my art and conservation project, The Endangered Species Print Project. My husband is a master printer and photographer who has worked on the project over the years, in fact we met at the print bureau where he used to work. My parents were with us, freshly minted grandparents, it was a feel good event. Also going to a family museum seems much more legit when you are pushing a stroller.

For those of you who don't know The Endangered Species Print Project is a project I founded with artist Jenny Kendler way back in 2009. Jenny and I are artists, environmentalists, and animal lovers. We were searching for a way to use what we were good at (art) to help a cause we were passionate about (conserving endangered species).

Our solution? The Endangered Species Print Project (ESPP). The idea is simple but striking. To create art prints of critically endangered species with the number of prints editioned for each species matching its remaining wild population count.  One of our smallest edition runs is of my painting of the Seycheles Sheath-tailed bat. The last population count of these bats counted just 37 remaining in the wild. So once we sell all 37 of our bat prints, that's it.

Proceeds from print sales benefit the animal or plant depicted. To date our little idea has raised over $12,000. for critically endangered species around the globe. Not too shabby, eh?

ESPP prints by Noah Scalin, John Vilhauer, Justin Richel, Jenny Kendler, Daughter Earth and Feral Pony

Although I'm not one to get to celebratory about my accomplishments (generally I just feel I'm doing what I'm supposed to) seeing the ESPP prints and name up in the museum made me feel really good. The project has been a lot of work. Something Jenny and I scraped out bits of time for over the years after our individual art practices and full time day jobs. Seven years into the project (seriously!?) we are planning some improvements and changes to the way we operate to make ESPP more sustainable and hopefully bigger and better.  Our year long tribute to the last Pinta Island tortoise, Lonesome George, Project George is currently underway.

So far 14 artists have participated in the project which has been included in ten international exhibitions and featured in publications like ReadyMade magazine, Orion magazine, Juxtapoz and the Sierra Club's blog. One of my favorite moments was when a little piece on ESPP was published in the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium newsletter. My inner 11 year old who wanted to be a marine biologist and believed whales are magic (I still do of course) was thrilled!

So if you are in Chicago check out "Rare Nature: The Endangered Species Print Project" at the Notebaert. The show runs through October 19, 2014. Rare Nature and the accompanying exhibit "Nature's Struggle: Survival & Extinction are part of Project Passenger Pigeon, a nationwide effort to call attention the the extinction crisis. And check out The Endangered Species Print Project on our website and Facebook page. New prints by Daughter Earth, Feral Pony, and Jenny Kendler will be released in the coming months.

Sometimes I like to paint realistically, deal with it.  

Moldavian Meadow Viper by me and 

California Condor by Barnaby Whitfield.

All exhibit photos courtesy Jim Schafer.

Ahoy! I'm now on Instagram / new nautical art

The June assignment for the super-fun Lilla Rogers Making Art That Sells Bootcamp was to create a piece of nautical wall art. I documented a bit of my hand-lettering process and will be sharing future process pics on my new Instagram. You can follow along here.

Here is my final illustration. A narwhal, the Unicorn of the Sea.